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COPYRIGHT 2004 Adam Mickiewicz University Press
ABSTRACT
The present study aims at providing a survey of the earliest English developments of reciprocal expressions, from the Old English discontinuous expressions, in which the elements are separated from each other by other sentence elements, to the present-day tight units like each other or one another. The data have been retrieved from several computerized text corpora. It comes out clearly that the reciprocal pronouns consist of two separate elements and their syntactic behaviour is regulated by such factors as the existence or non-existence of prepositions or other adverbial elements, word-order, function in the sentence and metre. The early expressions for reciprocity do not seem to share all the characteristics of the Modern English pronouns, nor are the same shade distinctions to be seen in Old and Middle English. The process of change in the uses and structuring of reciprocal expressions tan be seen as a grammaticalization process from units consisting of word sequencies to compound pronouns proper. The English reciprocals also illustrate a rare development in that it does not follow the general trends of language economy.
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Reciprocal pronouns in English are by no means an unexplored area of study. The purpose of the present short survey, however, is to present some theoretical approaches to what reciprocity means, give an overall survey of how it has been expressed in English throughout the ages and to briefly look at the development of these expressions as a grammaticalization process, that is to say as a development from expressions with several separate elements which also had different syntactic functions to the present-day system of compound pronouns.
Even though the study is based on a large computerized text corpus, it does hot take into account every single instance of each other and one another in the available diachronic corpora. The study thus illustrates a selective and somewhat limited corpus.
I am primarily interested in charting the earliest ways of expressing reciprocity in English, but the prescrit day usage may serve as a good starting point. According to Quirk et al. (1985), Present-Day English (PDE) has two reciprocal pronouns, one another and each other, and they are related to the reflexive pronouns in that they express a 'two-way reflexive relationship' (1985: 364-365). The following examples illustrate this relationship:
1) Adam and Eve blamed each other.
(cf. Adam and Eve blamed themselves).
They each blamed the other.
They are never weary of each other's company.
The twins wanted each other to be present at all rimes.
They talked one with another. / They talked with one another.
Dennis and Margot are in love (with each other).
Somewhat earlier, Curme in his Syntax (1931: 101), expressed the central characteristics of reflexives and reciprocals in the following way: "The reflexives refer to the subject of the proposition in which they stand, indicating that the action performed by the doer passes back to him, or is associated with him; thus the reflexive form can refer only to the subject of the proposition or clause in which it stands. The reciprocal pronouns, on the other hand, express mutual action or relation on the part of the persons indicated by the subject." This important difference can be seen for example in the two short sentences referring to Adam and Eve, quoted above in (1). Unlike the reflexive pronouns, the reciprocals can co-refer only to plural noun phrases (or noun phrases that have a plural quality), since reciprocity presupposes more than one participant. Biber et al. express this idea by saying: "As with reflexive pronouns, the reciprocal pronouns ... mark identity with the referent of a preceding noun phrase within the same clause, usually in subject position. They differ from reflexive pronouns in that the reference is to more than one entity and that there is a mutual relationship between the entities" (1999: 346). Each other and one another are both written as word sequences, but it is better to treat them as compound pronouns than as combinations of two pronouns. At the same time, they correspond to the correlative use of each ... other and one ... another in sentences like They each blamed the other. And: The passengers disembarked one after another. The pronouns, like the reflexives, cannot be used in subject position in finite clauses, whereas they could in the early phases of English, and they can co-refer only to plural noun phrases, since reciprocity, unlike reflexive expressions, presupposes more than one participant. But there does not seem to be such a constraint on reciprocals as subject in nonfinite verb clauses. We tan say 'The twins wanted each other to be present at all times.'
Quirk et al. (1985) argue that as to usage there is no difference in the use of the two pronouns each other and one another despite the prescriptivists' preference for each other for reference to two, and one another to more than two. Curme (1935) and others have indeed seen some tendencies in the use of the two phrases, but it...
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